TMNT Flag

WallCrawlingHero · 07-25-2012, 07:12 PM

I was just poking around on the boards and I thought I'd share the only real bit of TMNT art I've done. I made this flag last year.

Here's the body of a blog post I did about it explaining what it was for and sort of how I made it.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Now, you may be wondering why I would be so inclined as to spend my time and money making a Donatello flag? To that I say, "Why wouldn't I?" But there is a reason I decided to make one this week. For the next three days the wife and I (along with some other friends) will be attending the Austin City Limits Music Festival. It's one of the biggest organized events held in this city every year and this year we're going.

This will be our second time at the festival, our first being three years ago. On the first day of the festival almost immediately we noticed all of the flags people had. At first it didn't really make sense to us, and even when our friends explained that the flags make finding your friends easier we thought, "That's stupid, we have cell phones, just call or text." After a day of texting, "We're by that one merch booth with the guy in the black T-shirt," or not being able to get through at all because of overloaded circuits we began to understand the importance of having a flag if you're with a group of people. So after an exhausting first day we made a Team Zissou flag using materials we had at the house and held it together with Stitch Witchery. It served us well for the next two days and now hangs in a place of honor in our apartment.

Spoiler:

This year we had time to plan and we wanted to make our flag memorable. We discussed several design ideas, the focus being to keep it simple but recognizable. It may seem like the natural choice to do a TMNT flag, but the Donatello design only barely beat out the Ghostbusters flag idea. While we collaborated on the concept I actually made the flag myself because my wife has been so busy with rehearsals lately, plus I enjoy sewing and creating something so awesome out of nothing. It may not look too complicated, but I sewed the entire thing by hand. I could have used my wife's sewing machine and done it in way less time, but I don't know how to use it and I prefer hand sewing when I can; it makes me feel like I've put more effort into the creation. It took me somewhere between 9.5 and 11 hours over three days as near as I can figure.

Here are a few pictures I took along the way so you can see the process. For reference the flag itself is roughly 48" x 31" and the Ninja Turtle head is about 21" tall. The first image is the plain flag with the pattern laid on top for spacing. I created the pattern by taking a picture of my pajama pants with my wife's nice camera and then blowing it up, printing it out on 9 sheets of paper, then cutting and taping it together. The second picture is with just the green face backing finished. The Last picture is the completed product after assembling the mask/eyes and mouth and then attaching them to the flag.

Spoiler:

-------------------------------------------------------------

I was surprised at the pretty huge reaction it got at the festival; I got stopped quite a few times to get pictures and high fives.

We were easy to find, that's for sure.

cartoonistaaron · 07-25-2012, 11:17 PM

This thing is pretty awesome! Well done! I'd love to make one but I don't think my wife wants this hanging outside the house.

What kinda fabric is it?

*TheCanadiandrome* · 07-25-2012, 11:33 PM

Very cool flag

*Luzmagica* · 07-26-2012, 12:47 AM

100% Cool!!!!!! High Fives here too!!!! Its awesome !!!

WallCrawlingHero · 07-26-2012, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cartoonistaaron

What kinda fabric is it?

It's all made from lightweight cotton. I knew I would only use it for 3 days so I bought the cheapest cotton cloth the fabric store had. It probably only cost me about $20 to make and it held up really well for as much abuse as it got. It rained the first day so they flag got soaked, and it was pretty breezy the rest of the time so it was whipping around pretty good when it was flying. The edges of the flag started fraying a bit, but that was by design because I opted not to hem them. I kind of wanted it to look a little worn when we were done.

*Zany Orange Dude* · 07-26-2012, 12:52 PM

Radical flag dude!

Scud · 07-26-2012, 04:40 PM

That's some nice stuff. And all done by hand? Bravo!

~S~

*zkarlette* · 07-27-2012, 02:20 AM

Wow Man,That's dedication right there, pretty cool.

07-25-2012, 07:12 PM	#1
WallCrawlingHero Random Punk Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 27	TMNT Flag I was just poking around on the boards and I thought I'd share the only real bit of TMNT art I've done. I made this flag last year. Here's the body of a blog post I did about it explaining what it was for and sort of how I made it. ------------------------------------------------------------- Now, you may be wondering why I would be so inclined as to spend my time and money making a Donatello flag? To that I say, "Why wouldn't I?" But there is a reason I decided to make one this week. For the next three days the wife and I (along with some other friends) will be attending the Austin City Limits Music Festival. It's one of the biggest organized events held in this city every year and this year we're going. This will be our second time at the festival, our first being three years ago. On the first day of the festival almost immediately we noticed all of the flags people had. At first it didn't really make sense to us, and even when our friends explained that the flags make finding your friends easier we thought, "That's stupid, we have cell phones, just call or text." After a day of texting, "We're by that one merch booth with the guy in the black T-shirt," or not being able to get through at all because of overloaded circuits we began to understand the importance of having a flag if you're with a group of people. So after an exhausting first day we made a Team Zissou flag using materials we had at the house and held it together with Stitch Witchery. It served us well for the next two days and now hangs in a place of honor in our apartment. Spoiler: This year we had time to plan and we wanted to make our flag memorable. We discussed several design ideas, the focus being to keep it simple but recognizable. It may seem like the natural choice to do a TMNT flag, but the Donatello design only barely beat out the Ghostbusters flag idea. While we collaborated on the concept I actually made the flag myself because my wife has been so busy with rehearsals lately, plus I enjoy sewing and creating something so awesome out of nothing. It may not look too complicated, but I sewed the entire thing by hand. I could have used my wife's sewing machine and done it in way less time, but I don't know how to use it and I prefer hand sewing when I can; it makes me feel like I've put more effort into the creation. It took me somewhere between 9.5 and 11 hours over three days as near as I can figure. Here are a few pictures I took along the way so you can see the process. For reference the flag itself is roughly 48" x 31" and the Ninja Turtle head is about 21" tall. The first image is the plain flag with the pattern laid on top for spacing. I created the pattern by taking a picture of my pajama pants with my wife's nice camera and then blowing it up, printing it out on 9 sheets of paper, then cutting and taping it together. The second picture is with just the green face backing finished. The Last picture is the completed product after assembling the mask/eyes and mouth and then attaching them to the flag. Spoiler: ------------------------------------------------------------- I was surprised at the pretty huge reaction it got at the festival; I got stopped quite a few times to get pictures and high fives. We were easy to find, that's for sure. __________________

07-25-2012, 11:33 PM	#3
TheCanadiandrome Big, Bad & Bold Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Inside the Technodrome; Shredderville; Saskatchewan Posts: 19,719	Very cool flag __________________ Add me: PSN/XBL; Nintendo Network ID: BDS-3.1.6; Switch FC: SW-3378-5206-8020 TMNT Fan Club: http://sot.ag/4jZR0 Visit My Wish List: http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=30904 My Collection: http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=40276

07-26-2012, 12:47 AM	#4
Luzmagica A Magic Light Dudette! Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Spain. Posts: 3,878	100% Cool!!!!!! High Fives here too!!!! Its awesome !!! __________________

07-26-2012, 12:52 PM	#6
Zany Orange Dude The Little Nerdy Teacher Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: At my desk reading comics and writing lesson plans Posts: 2,292	Radical flag dude! __________________

07-26-2012, 04:40 PM	#7
Scud Hench Mutant Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Sol 3, Gould Belt, Milky Way Galaxy, Virgo Supercluster Posts: 485	That's some nice stuff. And all done by hand? Bravo! ~S~ __________________ New to the Technodrome? Why not introduce yourself here. To read the forum rules click one. For guidelines on Buying/Selling/Trading click two.

07-25-2012, 11:17 PM	#2
cartoonistaaron Stone Warrior Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 737	This thing is pretty awesome! Well done! I'd love to make one but I don't think my wife wants this hanging outside the house. What kinda fabric is it?

07-27-2012, 02:20 AM	#8
zkarlette Fashionably late Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: CA Posts: 4,146	Wow Man,That's dedication right there, pretty cool. __________________ "If only we'd stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time" E.W